When Buildings Collapse
(NOT the FOX special!)
WC-COOA/MAJ Brucmack/Wing XIII/ISD Grey Wolf
(brucmack@yahoo.com)

Life in outer space has a steady rhythm of light and dark, activity and rest, excitement and boredom. That is the life of a pilot, whether they like it or not. However, every once in a while a pilot needs to get out, and the best way to do that is in the comfort of a TIE cockpit…

ISD Grey Wolf

CPT Brucmack was restless. He was bored with the simulator, having given too many piloting lessons in the past weeks… especially to the pilots of the ISD Immortal. He needed to get out and get some action.
"Well, I don't see that I have a choice here, do I?" he thought to himself as he dragged himself from his bunk. He quickly donned his flight suit and jogged silently down the corridor towards the hangar. Or so he thought.
About halfway there he heard sounds of light jogging behind him. "Busted.." he thought, but quickly changed his attitude when he realized the feet belonged to Achim, one of his flight leaders.
"Going somewhere, sir?" said Achim.
"Uhh… just out for a little stroll, that's all… How about you?"
"Well, I was hoping you were going to sneak out and find some Rebels, I've been feeling a bit bored lately. Apparently I was mistaken, sorry to disturb you!" Achim turned to leave.
"Wait… I have an idea. Call up the rest of the squadron, would you?"

After a quick and quiet briefing, Brucmack led his pilots to the hangar. After a few hushed words with the after-hours deck officer, he led his pilots to their ships.
"They won't know we're gone until tomorrow anyway, I've worked that much out," he explained. "I'll leave a message telling them where we've gone though, just in case… Not to be delivered right away, of course!" Everyone laughed.
Soon afterwards, eight TIE Advanced and 4 TIE Interceptors were just another constellation in the perpetual night.

Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

As soon as his TIE Advanced fighter dropped from hyperspace, Brucmack knew something was amiss.
"What is this place? I don't recognize any of the star patterns!" exclaimed Alex Foley.
"beep bleep beep," agreed CrazyR2.
"Finally, something interesting for a change!" said Brucmack. "Alright, let's form up and check this out! There's a system nearby, let's see what we can find!"
They headed towards it at full throttle, slowing as they reached the outer planets. The outermost one was a double planet, just two small blocks of ice revolving slowly around each other. The next few were large gas giants, with many little moons. They were disappointed to see no signs of life anywhere. However, they soon found something more interesting.
"bleep beep!" whistled R2.
"Life signs, where?" asked Brucmack.
"beep bleep beep beep bleep!"
"Alright folks, guess that blue planet's our target, lets head in!"

CN Tower, Toronto, Ontario

Leonard Nimoy enjoyed traveling. The man-made wonders of the world exerted a power on him that kept him perpetually traveling from continent to continent.
"Beam me up, elevator!" he said, chuckling to himself, as he began the minute-long ascent to the top of the tower. A few of the others joining him looked at him strangely, but he didn't mind. Then he noticed something away in the distance… "Hmm, those planes look strange, they've got weird wings… and they're all black… Wow, can they ever move fast, they're almost here! I wonder what that green stuff coming out the front isssss…."

Back in the Cockpit…

CPT Brucmack laughed as the big building toppled over, leaving ruins about the entire area. "Let's head south and see what's down there!"

On their way, Brucmack noticed a strange rock formation on the ground. "Hmm…" he thought. "'Firefox and ShadowHawk are the best fiction judges ever!' … I wonder what that means?" However, he didn't have time to dwell upon it further, as a shout drew his attention.
"There's an enemy on my tail!" shouted Mage from Brucmack's wing.
"R2, give me a readout!" said Bruc as he threw his ship into a roll.
"bleep beep beep bleep beep" said R2, as the data rolled across his screen. He laughed.
"Let's show these guys how to fight!" he cried, while bringing his fighter around to attack.
The enemies were clearly atmospheric fighters, with strange propulsion systems that sent clouds of smoke out the rear. The first one died in a rather spectacular explosion à la concussion missile, and the second half-melted craft plunged downwards at a rather alarming speed. The others turned to run, but missiles soon caught up to them as well.
"You know what guys, this was great fun, but let's leave some monitoring equipment and head back home, then we won't get in more trouble than usual," ordered Brucmack as they headed up and away.

Back on the Grey Wolf

Brucmack sighed as he lay down after a long day's work. Last night's excursion had been fun, but also tiring as well. Cyric didn't turn out to be too angry after getting HBO installed in his quarters, a relief to him more for his pilots than for himself. After all, for Brucmack, it was just another day's work.

CMDR-COOA/CPT Brucmack/Vortex/Wing XIII/ISD Grey Wolf

*Note: This was originally written for a competition judged by Firefox and ShadowHawk :P

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